Modem computers, especially personal computers, typically interact with a variety of other computing devices and specialized peripheral devices. Such peripheral devices can include optical scanners, printers, audio input sources, audio speakers, video cameras, and still digital cameras, among others. Many of these devices can employ a standardized data connection and protocol to transmit information from the peripheral device to a system (for example, PC, server, cellular phone, etc.). The data connection used can be wired or wireless. Among the most common wired connections are universal serial bus (USB), IEEE 1394 (FireWire), ATA, SATA, PCI, PCI Express, PCMCIA, and ExpressCard, and others. Common wireless connections include code division multiple access (CDMA) connections, time division multiple access (TDMA) connections, global system for mobile communications (GSM) connections, IEEE 802.1x (WiFi) connections, IEEE 802.16 (WiMax) connections, and Bluetooth connections, among others.
Data connections such as those described above can be arranged in a variety of topologies, many of which can be quite complex. Various operational parameters, including specific operational requirements for peripheral devices, can further complicate data communications. An average computer user usually lacks the technical ability to diagnose and correct problems with data communications. Additionally, the average user commonly has no desire to troubleshoot such problems. The typical user simply wants his peripheral device to work when connected. If there is a problem, that user simply wants to be able to identify and correct the problem quickly and easily.
Commonly, status indicators associated with data connections are limited to indicating whether a connection is present and whether an active data transfer is occurring. Ethernet connections also indicate whether a data collision is occurring but otherwise are similarly limited. Current systems lack an intuitive and instructive way to diagnose and correct data connection problems. Typical systems also lack means to easily identify a specific data connection problem so that the problem can be corrected. Also, common systems fail to provide a means to easily identify a specific data connection that is a cause of connection problems from among the many data connections that possibly can be in use. Such shortcomings can be a great source of frustration for the average computer user.